A coalition of about 1,500 Californiaself-insured employers claim the company's contract practicesartificially inflate the prices of health care. (Photo: JasonDoiy/The Recorder)

The judge overseeing a lawsuit claiming that Sutter Healthabused its market power to drive up health careprices in Northern California has pushed back the start of trialdue to a shortage of jurors.

A coalition of about 1,500 California self-insured employers andtrusts that pay for employee health care services sued Sutter,Northern California's largest hospital chain, in 2014 claiming thecompany's contract practices artificially inflate the pricesof health care in the Bay Area and Sacramento Valley. TheCalifornia attorney general filed similar claims against Sutter in 2018,and the consolidated cases were set to go to trial before SanFrancisco Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo onThursday.

Related: Feds join suit against Sutter Health over inflatedMedicare payments

But just before the scheduled openingstatements, Massullo granted a joint motion from Sutter'slawyers at Jones Day and Keker, Van Nest & Peters andthe plaintiffs to delay the start of trial so the partiescan decide whether there are enough jurorsto have a quorum at the end of what's expected to be athree-month trial. Massullo already had excused five ofthe initial 24 jurors picked to hear the case for a variety healthand employment reasons before Thursday, and a sixth had expressedconcern about being able to serve for the duration.

"We get to a point where we'reso low with the number of jurors it could result in not havingenough by the time the case actually goes to trial for a jury to gointo deliberations," said Massullo, explaining the delayedstart to the remaining jurors after granting the parties' motion."My job is to make sure that when we start, we start and we do nothave any disruption," the judge said before dismissing jurors forthe day.

After the jurors were dismissed,Massullo asked the parties to return to her with a plan for movingforward. With a court holiday on Monday, Massullo asked the jurorsto return on Tuesday. But after they were dismissed she concededthat openings could be pushed back even further into the week ifmore jurors need to be screened andseated.  

Any delay in getting the matter moving, the judge said, will becoming out of trial time. "Your case may be four or five daysshorter than you thought it would be," Massullo said.

Read more: 

• Health giant Sutter destroys evidence in crucialantitrust case
• California AG sues Sutter Health over highcosts
• Can California bring down Sutter Health'smonopoly?